Hanover resident's Ortley Beach vacation home demolished without his knowledge

10:04 AM,
Dec. 10, 2012

Nick Maria of Hanover sits on the foundation of what was his Ortley Beach vacation home in Ocean County, before Sandy knocked it into a neighboring house. The ranch house still was intact, however, when he saw an aerial shot of it.

Written by

Michelle Gladden
| @GladdenAPP

When Nick Maria first saw his Ortley Beach vacation home after superstorm Sandy, it was part of an aerial image shown during a television broadcast.

The house had been knocked off its foundation and had crashed into his neighbor's home to the west. The second story of another house further east had slammed into the other side of Maria's home. Yet, the white modular ranch was intact.

Two weeks later, when property owners were first allowed back onto the barrier island to assess damages, Maria brought two empty suitcases to retrieve his family's valuables and an insurance adjuster to help him ...